Household Hazardous Waste
Council in partnership with Adelaide City Council, City of Unley and Zero Waste SA held a free household chemical disposal day on 24 November 2012 at the Adelaide Showgrounds. This event allowed the community to responsibly dispose of household chemicals such as batteries, fertilisers, swimming pool chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The day was a huge success with 820 vehicles disposing of 34,562kg of household chemicals! Mitcham residents took advantage of this event with over 400 vehicles come from our Council area. Thank you to our residents for supporting this event and showing their dedication towards being environmentally responsible.
Batteries, paint and oil were the top 3 items collected on the day, but did you know that you don’t have to wait for a collection day to dispose of these items?
Paint made up more than half of the chemicals collected on the day alone! Paint tins with a small amount of hardened paint can go into your blue lidded waste bin with the lid removed. If the tin is cleaned and free of paint, it can be recycled through most scrap metal dealers, or placed into your yellow recycling bin (lid removed).
There are loads of places to recycle oil, paint and batteries around South Australia, just use the Recycle Right search engine at www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au/at-home/recycle-right to find the closest to you.
Household Hazardous Waste Depot
Throughout the year Zero Waste SA operate a Household Hazardous Waste Depot to help you safely dispose of unwanted household chemicals in an environmentally safe way. The depot is located at corner Magazine Road and Henschke Street, Dry Creek and is open 9am to 12pm on the first Tuesday of every month.
Click here to view Zero Waste SA Household Hazardous Waste Depot flyer
The confirmed opening days for 2013 are:
- 8 January
- 5 February
- 5 March
- 2 April
- 7 May
- 4 June
Accepted products include:
- Kitchen: Aersol can, floor care products, polishes and oven cleaners.
- Bathroom: Pharmaceuticals, medicines, bathroom cleaners, nail polish and remover.
- Workshop: Paint strippers, cutting oil, solvent-based glues, any paints, thinners, acetone, turpentine, varnish, wood preservative and rust remover.
- Garden: Fertiliser, fungicides, weed killers, insecticides, pesticides and rat poison
- Garage: Batteries, battery acid, transmission and brake fluids, car wax with solvent, petrol, diesel, kerosene, motor oil, sump oil and coolant.
- Miscellaneous: Acids, alkalis, artists’ paints, dry cleaning solvents, fibreglass resins (not mixed), mercury batteries, NiCads, mothballs, photographic chemicals, swimming pool chemicals, smoke detectors, fluorescent light tubes, compact fluorescent lamps and gas bottles (empty).
Things to do:
- Keep or put labels on containers if possible
- Package securely to prevent spills
- Transport chemicals in your vehicle’s boot or trailer
- Use containers that you do not wish to retain as they will not be returned upon drop off
- Place containers of liquids in an unwanted bag or plastic bucket so they do not leak
- Keep corrosive chemicals such as battery acid away from poisons
- Keep oxidising agents such as peroxide away from all other materials
We will not accept:
- Asbestos
- Business or industrial waste
- Explosives or ammunition
- Tyres
- Empty containers
- Radioactive materials
*Please note that this service is for householders only and commercial quantities of waste materials will not be accepted.
Disposal of Domestic Smoke Alarms in Kerbside Waste
Unwanted domestic smoke alarms can be placed in your general waste bin (blue lid) for collection as part of Council's kerbside collection service.
When a smoke alarm is disposed in your general waste bin it is ultimately dispersed throughout a large volume of waste at the landfill or bale-fill waste disposal site. The small amount of radioactive material in smoke alarms is not a health hazard. It does not present a radiation risk to personnel involved in waste handling at resource recovery facilities or landfill and bale-fill operations, the public, or the environment.
The health and environmental impacts of disposal of smoke alarms in kerbside waste are negligible and less than the potential impacts from collection and keeping them in storage.
Having acknowledged the negligible risks to people and the environment, several international regulatory authorities have approved the disposal of smoke alarms containing radioactive material in kerbside waste. These include the National Radiation Protection Board in the United Kingdom, the National Radiation Laboratory in New Zealand, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the United States of America. All states and territories of Australia now permit the public to dispose of smoke alarms in kerbside waste.
In accordance with international best practice, disposal of small quantities of smoke alarms that contain radioactive material in kerbside waste in South Australia was made legal in early 2009 under provisions of the Radiation Protection and Control Act 1982. An exemption under the Act permits up to two smoke alarms to be disposed into kerbside waste during any period of seven days.
For more information visit the EPA's website at http://www.epa.sa.gov.au/households/smoke_detectors
Further Information
Visit Zero Waste SA Household Hazardous Waste to find out more information.
If you require further information on the disposal of household chemicals visit Zero Waste SA or contact the Waste Management Officer at Council on 8372 8888.
